Trip and fall on sidewalk returned to lower court
Lana Lumetta fell on a crack in the sidewalk, fractured her hip, and sued the City of Macomb. Lana claimed that the fall was caused by a crack or discontinuity in the sidewalk resulting from inadequate maintenance by the City. The City persuaded the local judge to dismiss the case because Lana had not provided sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption of due care established by statute, where the discontinuity is less than two inches in height.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals sent the case back to the lower court. The Court noted that the so-called "two-inch" presumption rule applies only to sidewalks adjacent to County highways and the parties hadn't presented sufficient evidence to answer whether this sidewalk was adjacent to a county highway. Therefore, the lower court would need to address that issue, and if this wasn't a "county" sidewalk, the lower court would have to analyze the maintenance question without resort to the presumption created by the two-inch rule.